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Beginner's Guide
Welcome to the Cities XL Beginner's Guide! Here you will find all information needed to help you understand the basic game concepts applicable when you start your first cities. I assume that people reading this are playing the game for the first time, so I will try to keep my explanations as simple as possible (though necessarily not that detailed). If you require more in-depth information about the game, you can find it in the numerous other articles in the Wiki. There are some general game-play concept articles that I would recommend: Transportation, Game economics , Resources and Citizens. You should check them out after you're finished with this guide. First I'd like to emphasize the benefit of going through the Tutorials, included in the game. They are by no means complete, but they will greatly help you to understand and visualize the basics, especially when combined with your acquaintance with this guide. Second, READ THE IN-GAME INFORMATION! Many people just buzz around, clicking on blue buttons, plopping down stuff, admiring their stuff, and then start complaining that their cities don't work and state the game is impossible. Well, the game gives you plenty of warning when something is wrong, and it also provides you with all necessary informational tools to find out what exactly is wrong, and how to fix it. You just have to look. There are: - General satisfaction buttons (Upper right corner of the interface), whose color will immediately tell you if there's something wrong with something. It's simple: Green is Great, Red is Danger. You can figure out the rest in between. - Control Panels (Left upper part of the interface) - here you have the Population, Resource and Budget panels, and clicking on the buttons will call out a window with detailed information about these things. -''' Individual buildings panels''' (Open when you click any building) - all the specific information for the building is found here, and again there are colored dots to help you glance a problem - Layers (Right edge of the Interface) - these can activate colored overlays on the city map itself , giving you specific information from above of every possible aspect of city management. 'Getting started' The first thing you will do after clicking the button Play in the Main menu (which will only happen hopefully after you've gone through all the Tutorials) is marvel at the sight of the Planet approaching out of the Cosmos. You will notice scores of gray dots on the Planet - these are all city slots, waiting for you to start constructing on them! On the right-hand side you'll see the Maps menu, where you will be able to choose among the 62 maps currently available a terrain suitable to your preferences and needs for your first (or second, third, etc.) city. Alternatively, you can click each one of the dots directly on the Planet. 'Maps' What do you need to know about maps? Each map has a difficulty degree. This has mostly to do with relief and the availability of resources or City-links. It's good to start with maps with smaller difficulty degree, until you get more experienced. Each map has one or more of these four resources available - Oil Fuel, Arable land (for Agriculture), Water and Holidays zones (for Holiday hotels). If you want to produce these resources in your city, you'll need at least one star in the respective map resource. Otherwise, you won't be able to produce it in this city (with the exception of Holiday zones, which could be created additionally in every city). Most maps are 'Land' maps - they are either completely landlocked, or have an extensive border with a landmass. These maps can connect with the rest of the Planet via the full specter of Inter-city transport options. Others are 'Island' maps - they are completely detached from landmasses and can only be connected to the Planet via Harbors or Airports. The name of the map usually suggests which one of the two types it belongs to (for example 'The atoll' is obviously an Island map). 'Select a Map' Choose one of the maps you like from the Map Menu using the filters if needed or just scroll through each map. Tip: the CXL 2012 maps are highlighted with a red border. When you have found a map you want to play select it and then click the 'Create your City' button. A dialog window will open, where you will type the name of the city (yes, it doesn't have to bear the name of the map), and select the style of roads you want to use - Default (no National style roads), American, English, French or German. Then press the OK button to Enter your city! Interface The in-game interface consists of 4 main menu panels. The Main Menu, Top Menu, Building Menu, and the Layer Bar Menu. Top Menu The top menu is located in the top middle area of the game Interface. You have your main Budget, Population, Resources and Transport menus on the left. Your City Title and City Tips in the middle and your Cities' Satisfaction menus on the right. The following menu options are available in the Top Menu. *Budget Panel *Population Panel *Resources Panel *Transport Panel Satisfaction Panels General Satisfaction buttons (right side of the top menu), whose color will immediately tell you if there's something wrong with something. It's simple: Green is Great, Red is Danger. You can figure out the rest in between. *Unskilled Workers Satisfaction Panel *Skilled Workers Satisfaction Panel *Executives Satisfaction Panel *Elites Satisfaction Panel *Factories Satisfaction Panel *Offices Satisfaction Panel *Hotels Satisfaction Panel *Commerce Satisfaction Panel Main Menu The Main Menu is located in the top left area of the game Interface. These are like quick links to the basic options of the game. Most are pretty self explanatory, click the menu option links below for more details. The following menu options are available in the Main Menu. *Trade *Blueprints *View Options *Trophies *Save *Menu *Back *Quit Building Menu The building menu is located in the bottom left area of the game Interface. The following menu options are available in the building menu. *Housing *Industry *Commerce *Utilities *City Services *Decorations *Transport *Packs *Bulldozer The building menu has multiple sub menus for each building type. Simply click each menu item to expand any sub menus. Future and existing mods will also display it's menu options here. Layer Bar Menu The layer bar menu is located in the right area of the interface. These can activate colored overlays on the city map itself , giving you specific information from above of every possible aspect of city management. The following menu options are available. *Population *Satisfaction *Economy *Environment *Resources *Transport Basic concepts Cities XL is a City simulator, and all games of this genre aim at one thing - constructing a nice enough city for people to live in. So, your basic goal (besides building a nice-looking city) is to keep your citizens satisfied. And since you can't keep running your city and satisfying your citizens without money, making a profit for the city coffers is your second most important goal. However, there are some other concepts you need to know about, before starting your first city: 'Construction' Your basic job as a Mayor is to build stuff in your city. You can lay transportation networks, place buildings and zones for Residences, Commerce and Industry, and even construct MegaStructures! But note that the major part of the buildings you zone won't actually grow, unless you've provided them with the necessary incentive (that is good conditions) for them to come. 'Resources' These are the goods and services in the city. They are measured in units called Tokens. The good balance of resources allows your city economy to run smoothly, so keep that in check via the Resource Panel. Most of your resources can be traded (imported or exported) with other cities. The trade is one of Cities XL's most innovative concepts, allowing you to create a network of interconnected cities on your Planet! 'Omnicorp' This is a NPC trade entity, which has massive amounts of cash and resources, and is eager to trade with your cities, Anything you lack, you can buy from Omnicorp, and anything you produce in excess, you can sell to them. Beware of their cutthroat prices! 'Citizens=Workers' The citizens you attract to live in your city are at the same time the workers that fill in all the positions in private and state-run buildings. Without enough workers, buildings won't function, and private businesses will quickly go bankrupt. There are four different classes of citizens/workers: Unskilled , Skilled , Executives and Elites . 'Satisfaction' Your citizens want stuff, and they will only come and live in the city if you provide them what they want. This is called Satisfaction. Key components in Citizen satisfaction are Services, like Education and Security, so make sure to provide these. Businesses also want stuff - they won't come otherwise, or if they come they won´t be able to make a profit! In first place, they want workers which they will hire from your city population, in the second place they use certain resources for their activities, which they will automatically buy if there´s enough supply in the city. 'Normal mode' This is the default mode of the game, and it is characterized by the fact that most buildings are locked (you can´t use them), until you reach certain population in the city. This prevents you from doing something so wrong that your city flounders rapidly. So, be patient and try to master each component of the game-play as your city grows slowly. The last buildings and tools will unlock around population of 500 000. Note that some high - end Landmarks have an even higher population requirements, so don't panic if you don't see all wonderful buildings we've described in this Wiki! 'Starting the city' 'Establish a connection' The first thing you need to do ir your new city is establish a connection to the rest of the Planet. On land maps you will be asked to select a road and drag it to the edge of the map. There you'll see a purple area, representing the Road City link resource - drag the road to it and it will automatically snap to the edge, creating the City link (you'll see a big sign appearing there). On island maps you don't have Land City link resources, only Sea and Air ones. There you'll need to place a Small harbor in a zone highlighted on the map (there is usually a very extensive zone, so you shouldn't have problems). Then connect the harbour to a road to complete the connection. It is essential to use the biggest available road (the Small Avenue) for these connections, because this road will transfer all the Freight and Passenger services that you're gonna use in the beginning of the game, and bigger roads transfer those much better then smaller ones. 'Place your City hall' Next you'll need to select the place of the City hall - the center of city administration. Keep in mind that after you upgrade it this building will emit a strong Landmark bonus aura, so place it somewhere where you will be able to make use of this. It doesn't necessarily need to be in the center of the map, but it's good to place it in a place where you will later form a 'Downtown'. Remember that the whole Road network needs to be linked at all times to the City hall. 'Place a Resource center' Next you need to place the special resource building called Utility center . This small building produces all four essential resources that every city needs - Electricity, Water, Fuel and Waste disposal. It produces them in enough quantities that you won't lack them until your population has reached about 5000 - 10000. Remember that you need to link this building to the City hall by means of a road. 'Place some residences' Finally, before you can start with the real development of your city, you need to place some residential zones for Unskilled and Skilled Workers , which will take the positions in the City hall and the Utility center - otherwise these buildings won't be able to function. 'The first considerations' Every good city builder plans his cities ahead of time, or at least decides upon some vital points right in the beginning of each city. This could save you a lot of problems later, and also permit smoother development. There are many things in the game that produce Air Pollution, and many other things that don't like it (starting with Citizens). The main producers of Air pollution are Heavy and Manufacturing industry factories, and when you build those a lot in a city, you'll eventually get a lot of pollution. Since there is no way to get rid of this pollution (you can only try to counter it), this will turn into the so-called''' 'Dirty' city. The businesses that don't like pollution (Offices and High tech industry) will wither in such a city, no matter what you do, so you might as well not build them at all. Rather, use the opportunity to stick here every branch of production that pollutes, such as Power plants, Fuel and Waste facilities. A ''''Clean' city is, in this context, obviously one that is not polluted. That is, you haven't build a lot (or better, none) of the polluting buildings. So, here you can build as many Offices and High tech industrial buildings as you want - this will turn into the main tax generator for the city coffers. You can also develop Hotels, tourism, and also Water production (if you have Ground water resource on the map). You could also use Windmills to produce clean energy for this city, just be aware that you'll need lots of these. Each map, as mentioned before, has one of four types of resources: Arable land is used for developing Agriculture (Food Industry) via Farms; Oil deposits can be extracted via Fuel fields for the production of Fuel ; Ground (artesian) water is extracted via Water towers for production of Water ; and finally, Holiday areas are suitable for building Holiday hotels and developing tourism. All these areas are gonna appear on the map highlighted, when you open the Resources Layer. They are PRECIOUS. Because these resources cannot be produced, unless you have these areas on the map! Yes, you could create some Holiday areas on any map, using Landmarks and MegaStructures, but they will never be able to produce enough to satisfy even one city, let alone to permit export of holiday tokens. So, when you first enter your map, open the Layers and see where exactly are your resources on this map. Then, plan which ones you're going to develop (you don't need to develop all four, or three, etc.), and plan your city in such a way as to leave the resource areas OPEN FOR USE. This is especially important for Arable land, because of the way Farms are build, and the space they take on the map. Other areas are less problematic, because of the size of the buildings that utilize the resource, compared to the size of resource area they ´eat up. As mentioned before, there are buildings in the game that are not compatible with each other, for example buildings emitting pollution shouldn´t be too close to buildings affected by it. With that in mind, you should plan from the very beginning where you are gonna place your main centers of activity. Usually, ´dirty´ buildings are grouped together (just as in real life, where you have Industrial districts), and they are situated well apart of the main population centers (again, as in real life). So, if you are building a dirty city, such as a Supportive industrial city, you would want to keep your polluting industry within 4 blocks from the edge of the map and your residential area as far away from that as possible. ´Clean´ businesses, such as Offices and High Tech Industries don´t have this problem - you can put them right in the middle of the urban centers (if you think it will look nice). So, basically, if you´re gonna make lots of ´Dirty´ industry, choose a spot on the map well away from where you intend to make urban centers. Also, don´t forget the role of Resource zones in choosing the future locations of downtown areas. Finally, always remember that your city will grow. In the beginning of Normal mode you have just a handful of tools to utilize in building your city; as your population grows, you'll get more and more buildings, transportation options, bigger roads, larger zones, etc. All this will need to be added to the zones where you did your initial development, so: Leave some space for larger roads and highways, don't fill in every last space in a neighborhood, and always, ALWAYS have your Budget on the green! This will allow you to conduct foreign trade, and give you tranquility of mind. ::::*The first thing you need to decide is: Am I gonna make a 'Clean or a Dirty' city? ::::*The second thing you need to decide is: Where are my resource areas and which ones I'm gonna develop? ::::*Related to the above consideration is also the question Where am I gonna concentrate my main urban centers? ::::*'Always plan for future expansion!' 'First goals' The very first thing you need to take care about (after doing the first obligatory steps, shown above), is to assure your city is making a profit. Since you're not producing anything yet, you can't initiate foreign trade (you have nothing to sell). Which means that you need tax income from businesses. The tax-providing businesses available in the beginning of the city are: - Farms - which you can only built if you have Arable land on the map - Heavy Industry - which emits air pollution - Manufacturing Industry - which emits less Air Pollution but hire wealthier workers - Offices - do not emit pollution (they are harmed by it) and do not hire Unskilled Workers - Hotels (both business which should be put in office zones and holiday which need to be put in Holiday rich areas) - Retail - Shops provide a necessary service to citizens Of the above options, you can't rely on Retail and Business hotels as economy boosters, because you can't export their products. This means that when you build too many, their demand in the city will fall to such a point that new buildings won't grow and existing ones will start going bankrupt. That leaves Farms, Heavy Industry, Offices and Holiday hotels. But of these, two are map-dependent (Farms require Arable land resource, and Holiday hotels require Holiday area). Which leaves us with basically two options: - Heavy Industry and Offices You should be aware that Heavy Industry is the heaviest polluter in the game, so if you intend to make a 'clean' city you best either refrain from building H. I, or otherwise stick it far away from your first city center. If you're gonna build a 'Dirty' city, you should still separate the Industrial district from the residential one, because there is a concentrated pollution cloud right above industries that will ruin your every effort to make the place habitable. If you keep out of that cloud, you'll have only the General air pollution to deal with (this one spreads over the entire map, but it's only a fraction of the localized pollution). Now, remember that placing Industrial or Office (or any business) zones is not enough to ensure successful economy. You have to provide the necessary conditions for businesses to thrive! The first one of them is simple: 'Always ensure the availability of workers' No factory can work without workers, nor an office without clerks. And the workers are the citizens you attract to live in the city. There are four classes of citizens/workers, and every building in the game requires a specific selection of specific classes. For example, Skilled workers and Executives. When you hover your mouse over the building thumbnail in the Construction Menu, you'll see a description box, containing information on what classes and how many of each class approximately will the building employ. Make sure you have the necessary workers available before you build the building/zone, or shorly after. In the beginning of the game you only have access to the first two classes: Unskilled and Skilled workers (Low density zones). Feel free to zone for both, because usually every city needs them right from the beginning. If you're concentrating on Farms and/or Heavy Industry, you'll need mostly Unskilled; if you go Offices you'll need lots of Skilled workers. Hotels use both, while Retail only uses Unskilled (but you shouldn't build too many Retail buildings). 'Provide Freight and Passenger services' The second most important factor for business is Transportation, and in-game it is represented by the above-mentioned service. They are provided by your City Link ( the first thing you established in the city). 'Expert mode' Expert mode unlocks all buildings and roads from the beginning. If you know the intricacies of the game, you can set up a beautiful, well-planned city in under 10 minutes. If you do not know the economics of the game and how to balance the budget, you could be bankrupt in under 5 minutes. Category:Guide Category:Guide Category:Guide Category:Guide Category:Guide Category:Guide Category:Guide Category:Guide